• Karma Fallout New Vegas
• Fallout New Vegas Karma System
• What Does Karma Do In Fallout 3 Dlc
• What Does Karma Do In Fallout 3d

Karma is the reflection of all good and evil choices you make during the game and how they are perceived by the inhabitants of the wasteland.

• 3Obtaining karma points
• 4Effects of karma levels

Karma levels

In Fallout 3 you can have either Very Good Karma (750-1000, Good Karma (749- 250, Neutral Karma (249- -249, Bad Karma (-250- -749) or Very Bad Karma (-750- -1000). So Bad Karma would be the second. Karma's basic mechanics work similarly to the way they do in Fallout 3 (a 2001 point linear scale with -1000 being the most evil and +1000 the most good). Unlike reputation, where one can only gain fame or gain infamy, karma can be gained and lost. Karma also no longer determines which companions you can recruit.

You begin the game with a value of zero, which increases or decreases based on the players actions. There are 5 levels of karma:

Karma titles

Your karma status is defined by a 'karma title', depending of your karma points and on your level. Karma titles above level 20 can only be reached with the add-onBroken Steel.

Obtaining karma points

Positive

• Donating caps to a church (In increments of 10, 50, or 100):+1 karma per cap
• Selling fingers taken from the corpses of evil characters (you killed) to Sonora Cruz via the Lawbringer perk:+10 karma per finger
• Giving away scrap metal to Walter in Water Processing Plant, Megaton for free:+10 karma per item
• Giving away purified water to beggar characters like Carlos outside of Rivet City:+50 karma per item
• Performing a good action in a quest: At least +50 karma (ex: Bring Cherry to Rivet City.)
• Killing a very evil character or creature (Allistair Tenpenny , Mister Burke, Eulogy Jones, Carolina Red, Ahzrukhal, Jaime Palabras, Jotun, Ymir, and Cutter):+100 karma
• Disarming the Megaton bomb in The Power of the Atom quest without requesting payment:+200 karma
• Activating the failsafe in the Tranquility Lane quest: +300 karma
• Activating Project Purityyourself in the quest Take it Back!: +1000 karmaBroken Steel
• Blowing up the Enclave Mobile Command Crawler in the Who Dares Wins quest in the Broken Steeladd-on :+1000 karma
• Taking the Escalator to Heaven perk in the Broken Steel add-on: +2000 karma (essentially, it resets your karma to the maximum 1000)

Neutral

• Taking the Karmic Rebalance perk in the Broken Steel add-on instantly sets your karma back to 0.

Negative

• Devour a corpse (Cannibal perk required):-1 karma per corpse
• Stealing from a non-evil character or faction:-5 karma per instance (note that when stealing from owned (red text) containers, such as cabinets or lockers, the karma change applies once per activation of that container. Meaning, if you open a container once and steal two items, you lose 5 karma, but if you open the same container twice, stealing one item each time, you will lose 5 karma each time, which means you lose 10 karma). Items can be replaced in owned containers after being stolen, and then stolen again and again with the same karma loss each time, making for a useful method by which console gamers can decrease their karma, although repeatedly hacking an owned terminal is a faster way of doing this.
• Repeatedly hacking an owned (red text) terminal (Classifies as stealing, but can be done over and over again)-5 karma per hack attempt, NOTE, even accessing the terminal will result in negative karma
• Selling ears taken from the corpses of good characters (you killed) to Daniel Littlehorn via the Contract Killer Perk:-10 karma per ear
• Killing a good creature:-25 karma
• Performing an evil action in a quest: At least -50 karma
• Killing a non-evil character:-100 karma (although, this can be gotten around by shooting them once, making them hostile, then letting a follower kill them.)
• Giving psycho to Paulie Cantelli in Rivet City: -100 karma each time so long as he's alive
• Enslaving any character with the Mesmetron:-100 karma
• Causing Mister Lopez to commit suicide (either by pushing him or insulting him):-500 karma
• Letting the feral ghouls into Tenpenny Tower in the Tenpenny Tower quest: -600 karma
• Blowing up Megaton in the Power of the Atom quest:-1000 karma
• Infecting Project Purity with the modified FEV in the Quest Take it Back!:-1000 karmaBroken Steel
• Blowing up the Citadel in the Who Dares Wins quest in the Broken Steel add-on :-1000 karma
• Taking the Devil's Highway perk in the Broken Steel add-on:-2000 karma (essentially, it resets your karma to the minimum -1000)

Effects of karma levels

Good karma

• Access to Star Paladin Cross and Fawkes.
• Talon Company Mercs will come after you.
• A citizen in Megaton will reward you for your good-doings with ammo and other random gifts.

Neutral karma

• The use of the Impartial Mediation perk, the single biggest skill boost in the game.
• Access to Sergeant RL-3, a good early-to-mid game follower, and Butch.
• Neither Talon Company, nor the Regulators will come after you.

Bad karma

• The Regulators will be after you.
• Access to Clover and Jericho, good early-to-mid game followers.
• A slaver in Paradise Falls will reward you for your wrong-doings with ammo and other random gifts.

Companions and Karma

In Fallout 3, some companions have a karma level requirement that must be met if the player wishes to enlist them:

• Clover and Jericho need a bad karma to be recruited. After being hired, they will follow the player regardless of changes in karma level, although they will often mention how boring the player is, should he become good.
• Butch DeLoria and Sergeant RL-3, both recruited with neutral karma, are similar to Clover and Jericho. They will not leave if your karma becomes good or evil, but unlike Clover, you can't get them back with a high or low karma level when the main story separates you.
• Players with high karma may hire Fawkes or Star Paladin Cross. They are not slaves or servants like Clover and Charon: they will follow you of their own free will, without any cost, if you ask them and have good karma. Be aware, however, that being good characters, they will leave your side if you become evil after hiring them, and will refuse to follow you again until your karma is high enough.
• Dogmeat will follow you regardless of what your karma level is.

Sounds

Karma gain

Karma lose

• 1Permanent companions
• 2Temporary companions

Permanent companions

There are 8 permanent companions available to the player in Fallout 3. Most have a Karma requirement that must be met if the player wishes to enlist that companion (listed here in parentheses).

Pictured, left to right:

• Star Paladin Cross: Brotherhood Paladin (good)
• Butch DeLoria: Tunnel Snake (neutral)
• Clover: Paradise Falls slave (evil)
• Sergeant RL-3: Mister Gutsy robot (neutral)
• Jericho: Retired raider (evil)
• Fawkes: Super mutant (good)
• Dogmeat/Dogmeat's Pup: Dog (no karma requirement)
• Charon: Ghoul bodyguard (no karma requirement)

If you ever tell a companion to wait, and do not remember where they were left, Travel to The Pitt. This will send your companion home. (Does not work with Point Lookout, unknown for other addons.)

The player can have up to two companions in their party which consists of Dogmeat plus any one other companion, barring certain companion exploits.

XP

Unlike previous Fallout games, companions don't gain experience and notoriety independently but are scaled to the level of the player.

The player earns full XP if able to do the majority of the damage that kills the opponent (you get zero XP for a kill unless you manage to do at least 30% of the damage). A killing blow is not necessary to get XP but you will not be given XP if too little damage has been done.

Combat

Companions come with their default weapons and armor and will use these, depending on what role you ask them to play (melee or ranged). They will also wear any weapons or armor they are given that is superior to their standard equipment. All human or ghoul non-player characters are capable of wearing power armor (i.e. all but Dogmeat, Fawkes & Sergeant RL-3). Armor and weapons worn by companions never degrade with use.

Companions have unlimited ammunition for their standard weapon (With the exception of Butch), but you'll have to supply them with the appropriate ammunition for any other non-default ranged weapon.

If a companion is given several weapons and the appropriate ammunition, they will generally choose a weapon based on the range of the projectile, then on either damage per round (DPR) or damage per second (DPS) but not by the in-game interface's DMG stat. For example, if you equip Star Paladin Cross with a flamer, she will first attack with her default laser pistol because her target is out of the flamer's range. She will move towards the target to get into the flamer's range and then switch to it. There are exceptions, however. For example, Charon will always use Protectron's Gaze (a unique laser pistol) over the laser rifle, despite its reduced range AND damage per round rating.

Some companions will use any weapon if you give it to them (provided they have appropriate ammunition for it). There are some exceptions however, for example companions cannot use the Gauss rifle rewarded upon completion of the Operation: Anchorage add-on, but can utilize the sim-only version obtainable through glitching or console.

Companions have significantly more health than other non-player characters.

Enemies are able to shoot your companions weapons out of his hand (except default weapon), so take care if you give him any unique weapon.

Companions are restored to full health at the end of combat, after all nearby enemies are dead. However, if you zone out during a fight and they follow while injured, or if they are injured outside of combat (e.g. a booby-trap), they do not heal (until after the next combat). They can also use stimpaks in their inventory in the middle of battle, if you gave some to them earlier. Dogmeat can't carry stimpaks, but you can speak to him in the middle of combat to heal him manually. You can check companions' health by viewing them in V.A.T.S. mode, or moving far enough from them to see their HP bar. Companions are not considered 'vital' non-player characters, so they will die if their health is fully depleted, there is no way of reviving them, unless using the 'resurrect' command via console targeted on their corpse.

Some companions will enter sneak mode when you enter sneak mode, and end it when you do. They may also randomly enter sneak mode during combat, presumably to avoid enemy fire or to gain better aiming.

Statistics

• Dogmeat and RL-3 are non-humanoid and thus cannot use armor, regular weapons or equipment in general. Fawkes is partial humanoid; he can use most items and weapons but not armor.
• For a detailed list of the companions' equipment, see Fallout 3 companion equipment.
• Carrying capacity will be, e.g., 50 pounds less if given power armor (45 for armor, 5 for helmet). Capacity is determined by: (Base of 150) + (10 * Strength) - (Weight of inherent gear) - (Weight of anything else, including replacement armor or weapons)

Firing permanent companions

In most cases, companions can be dismissed/fired, and can later be found and rehired. In most cases, when fired they always travel to a specific spot, usually not the same spot they were hired. In some cases, they can always be rehired by simply finding them and asking them to rejoin you. In some cases, there will be Karma or other requirements. For example:

• Fawkes: If fired, Fawkes will travel to the Museum of History where he will wait for you just inside the front door. You can rehire him any time so long as your Karma is good. No charge or other requirements to rehire him.
• Sgt. RL-3: If fired, will travel to the entrance to Canterbury Commons (at the traveling merchants' stop near the trees), where he can be rehired so long as your Karma is neutral. No charge to rehire him.
• Star Paladin Cross: If fired, returns to The Citadel. Can be rehired any time, but only if Karma is Good.
• Butch: If fired, returns to The Muddy Rudder in Rivet City. Can be rehired any time, but only if Karma is neutral.
• Dogmeat: Isn't really 'fired,' he waits by Vault 101 as ordered.
• Jericho: If fired, returns to Megaton, he is found inside Moriarty's saloon, unless you have blown up Megaton, then he just waits at the ruins. You must have evil Karma to re-hire him.
• Charon: If fired, he will return to The Ninth Circle. He can be re-hired anytime regardless of karma.
• Clover: If fired, she will return to Eulogy's Pad in Paradise Falls (even if the player has killed Eulogy Jones and abolished slavery by wiping out everyone in Paradise Falls). She can be rehired regardless of Karma.

Temporary companions

Karma Fallout New Vegas

Temporary companions are companions that will join you during a quest. Most of them will follow you indefinitely until you complete their related quest, but not all. Unlike permanent companions, they do not heal automatically at the end of a battle but must be given stimpaks through reverse pickpocketing or healed through dialog (still requiring a stimpak from your inventory). Most of them can use weapons and armors. And because they are non-player character, they can use weapons forever with only one bullet. There are some hostile non-player characters which could become not hostile to player and Permanent Companions, but they still attack Temporary companions.(like Arkansas, protectrons in RobCo Facility). And traps of allies like Mines in Big Town still hostile to Temporary Companions. So you should take care of that non-player characters and traps first, then you can travel with Temporary Companions more safety.

• Cherry (can become permanent so long as she is not taken to Rivet City, though she is unrecommended due to her low stats).
• Doctor Li (only during The Waters of Life) and her companions (Garza, Daniel Agincourt, and Alex Dargon) (Note that only Li technically follows the Lone Wanderer; the other three simply follow her).
• Red (can become permanent so long as she is not returned to Big Town).
• Rory Maclaren (Because of a bug, he could be a Permanent companion)
• Sarah Lyons (only during Take it Back!)
• Shorty (can become permanent so long as he is not returned to Big Town).
• Sticky (can become permanent so long as he is not returned to Big Town).

Of the listed temporary companions, only Red, Shorty, and Sticky have dialogue options which allow the player to give them weapons or other inventory items.

Fallout New Vegas Karma System

James is scripted as though he were a permanent companion; for example, he uses up ammunition on playable weapons, something only permanent companions do. However, his package is 'escort' instead of 'follow', so he can't be taken places like a normal companion can be.

Operation: Anchorage only

• Sgt. Montgomery.
  • Strike Team Grenadier.
  • Strike Team Infantryman.
  • Strike Team missile Unit.
  • Strike Team Mister Gutsy.
  • Strike Team sentry bot.
  • Strike Team Sniper.

Mothership Zeta only

• Elliot Tercorien

Notes

What Does Karma Do In Fallout 3 Dlc

• To have your companion heal themselves, simply give them a few stimpaks. Companions only heal when they are behind cover. The only companion that will not use stimpaks is RL-3 as he repairs himself after combat. The player must apply stimpaks to Dogmeat since he's a dog and has no way of doing it himself.
• Most companions will turn hostile if you have inflicted damage 4 times in a row, but if you wait a while the process will restart. Once turned hostile, you can talk to them for some last words (most of the time it will be their own last words) for example, Star Paladin Cross says 'I'm sorry it had to come to this friend'.
• Companions cannot jump.
• It is possible to obtain all 8 followers at the same time (you require Puppies! to get all 8). First of all you have to get Charon (preferably before being captured and taken to Raven Rock) and if you don't already have good karma get it before going into Vault 87. Once you get out of Raven Rock you will see Fawkes shooting at some Enclave, wait until they're all dead so you can then fast travel to the Museum of History to pick up Charon before Fawkes talks to you. Now that you have Charon, fast travel back to Raven Rock and Fawkes will join you despite you already having Charon as a companion. Next up is Star Paladin Cross. Fast travel to The Citadel, she can be usually found in the laboratory. Unfortunately you require Broken Steel to get her to join you after completing Take it Back!. Now drop your karma to neutral and fast travel to the RobCo Facility right next to Tenpenny Tower. Find Tinker Joe and fire Charon and quickly buy Sergeant RL-3 from him, then rehire Charon. To get Butch DeLoria you must have completed Trouble on the Homefront with any ending that leaves Vault 101 open. Once you have done that go to the Scrapyard and get Dogmeat. Kill Dogmeat and go get Butch from The Muddy Rudder in Rivet City. Butch will join you because killing Dogmeat opened up a companion space. Now drop your karma to bad and fast travel to Paradise Falls and find Eulogy Jones. Fire Charon then buy Clover off of Eulogy then rehire him. Get Dogmeat from outside of Vault 101 and kill him again. After killing Dogmeat go get Jericho in Megaton as a companion. Finally, go yet again to pick up Dogmeat from outside Vault 101. Now you have all 8 companions at once.
• The Contract Killer (ear on corpse) perk and the Lawbringer (finger on corpse) perk are not in effect for your companions. When your companion kills a human enemy, there will not be an ear or finger on the corpse. However, when your companion fights super mutants, they do drop super mutant blood samples after completing the Broken Steel add-on.
• Regardless of hiring Dogmeat as a companion anyway, at the end of Fallout 3's storyline (Excluding DLC) Dogmeat will still appear as the Wanderer's companion.

What Does Karma Do In Fallout 3d